Artifact:: God of Maize Plate

The Maize Plate is a ritualistic piece in Mayan society. It is centered around the Maize God, which represents the cyclical life of their harvest. It acts as what can be considered the chora of their civilization because the conceptual principles behind the origin of the actual artifact informs the daily routine and path of the Mayans. The artifact integrates a religious environment into a cultural stability that is the Mayan civilization.

Located in the center of the Artifact, the portrayal of the Maize God anchors the ornamentation around it. The Maize God is dancing with his hands towards the west, representing the cycle of the sun, which sets in the same direction. His headdress is in the shape of what looks to be a cornucopia, often used to hold vegetables and fruit in festivities. The ornamentation that encompasses the Maize God depicts the other Gods with significance to the Maya. The two systematically depict how the Maya have categorized what they hold as important and why myth and nature have united to inform the itinerary within Uxmal. The Plate has three layers to its aesthetic and the shift in their scales is what adopts the intervened spacial qualities to the moment where it can be held and observed.

The artifact itself creates an opportunity to integrate the daily rituals of the Maya with what is more ceremonial and proper. It intersects the concept of public and private program, where certain aspects of such an intervention become remnants of an overall itinerary. Much like the void between the Governor's Palace and the cemetery group, the intervention unites what potentially could be a commonplace for the occupants of the site, otherwise unoccupied at the moment. This phenomena of ellipsis occurs at various times, each different in experience and ambiance. The Maize Plate is ritualistic at a larger scale, in the form of a gathering platform, much like the jaguar thrones throughout Uxmal that would provide a space of ceremony. However, these spaces lacked the specifics for observation. The plate is also domestic, being a tool that is used in daily living and regarded as something which anchors necessity (food). However, there are moments where the ellipsis plays a part of idolization.